Southern, ULL prepare for in-state clash

BATON ROUGE - The Southern Jaguars and UL-Lafayette Ragin' Cajuns are set to square off Saturday at Cajun Field.

Both teams won their conference last year, but ULL returns their three-year starting quarterback while SU will break in redshirt freshman Deonte Shorts with his first collegiate start.

"I think when he first runs out there he'll be like 'this is why I chose Southern,' said Southern head coach Dawson Odums. "At the end of the day, I think he will settle down after he comes off the field from warmups, get himself to go mentally and I think he'll do well."

Meanwhile in Lafayette, Cajuns head coach Mark Hudspeth says he is worried about the rust of a first game after taking it easy on his veteran team with less live tackling in fall practices.

"You just want to be sure we can tackle and run to the ball," said Hudspeth. "I know we can because we have good team speed, but that would be one of the biggest concerns adjusting to the speed of the game."